In case you missed it, the Mariners today finally gave up on the abysmal Brad Wilkerson and called up Wladimir Balentien and Jeff Clement. Although he only played in 19 games, Wilkerson was only able to manage an anemic .232 average with just 5 RBI, and his average is only that high thanks to a 3-3 outing yesterday. Prior to that, he had been hitting .189. Maybe he was starting to turn things around, but I doubt it. As far as I'm concerned, we couldn't get rid of him soon enough.
Meanwhile, his replacement, Wladimir Balentien made a great major league debut, going 2-4 with a 3 run home run. In his one game, he's already got 60% of the RBI's that Wilkerson managed in 19 games. Balentien plays some solid defense, has a strong arm, some speed (he hit an inside the park home run in his last game in Tacoma), and has the ability to hit for both average and power. In a full season in AAA last year, he hit .291 with 24 HR. I'm really excited to see this kid finally get a shot, and I think he will immediately fill a hole in both the batting order and the outfield.
Jeff Clement only had one plate appearance tonight, but had a single. This catcher and former first round draft pick still needs work on his defense, but has shown the ability to mash the ball. He was hitting .397 with 5 HR and 20 RBI in just 23 games in Tacoma before today's call up. He figures to see more time at DH than catcher. The one unfortunate side effect of today's dealings is that Greg Norton was released instead of the overpaid and underperforming Jose Vidro. It will be interesting to see how much playing time he gets. If he takes over for Vidro full time, that will fill another big hole in the batting order.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I was wondering when they were going to get rid of Wilkerson. Actually, I was wondering who the heck was Wilkerson and where did he come from, THEN I was wondering when they were going to git rid of him.
Oh well, he didn't rank high in the "Mariners by Physical Attractiveness" thing that, somehow, Wayne got me started on so I really don't care. Of course, if we go by that, Ichiro should be leaving any day now.
Well, I hadn't take the physical attractiveness scale into account. I just knew he couldn't hit. And every time he got up to bat I would say "who's that guy"? Now I don't have to say that anymore.
I was actually pretty surprised we signed Wilkerson from the beginning. With Reed, Morse, and Balentien who could all do a better job (hitting at least, Morse's fielding isn't so good)it seemed like kind of a dumb move to pick him up.
And I still don't know why Miguel Cairo is on the roster. My next moves are to get rid of him and Jose Vidro. And maybe the Big Sexy, who has to be high on the physical attractiveness scale with a nickname like that.
Post a Comment